In the Song dynasty, Yangzhou was described as having “one place, three cities”—Songdacheng, Songjiacheng and Baoyoucheng. Nestled between the other two, Songjiacheng forms a long, slender rectangle—angling slightly eastward at its southern edge and gently westward at its northern—an urban footprint that has endured for more than 800 years.
Enter through its west gate and you’ll find a hundred-meter avenue of plane trees so beautiful it stops visitors in their tracks. Look down, and the path is speckled with fallen yellow leaves stirred by the wind; look up, and dense branches form a deep canopy overhead. In that moment, the silhouette of someone walking into the distance becomes a painting—an autumn canvas of quiet elegance and fading light.
